Irish engineer wins major prize for kidney dialysis design

Low-cost machine has the potential to save millions of lives in the developing world

Irish engineer Vincent Garvey, who has won a major international prize for his design for a low-cost kidney dialysis machine.

An Irish engineer has won a major international prize after designing a low-cost kidney dialysis machine.

Smaller than a suitcase and geared for use in the developing world, the machine has the potential to save millions of lives in countries where conventional kidney treatments are either too expensive or difficult to access.

The engineer, Vincent Garvey, is originally from Donaghpatrick, Co Meath, but has spent the past 15 years in China, where he runs engineering consultancy firm MD Devices.

The goal of the Affordable Dialysis Prize 2016 was to design a portable dialysis machine costing about €900 for use in places where there was no assured electricity supply or clean water.